Revenge Is Sweet, but Kisses Are Sweeter
by xSerenityIsn'tAlwaystheAnswerx
Summary: Rhodey has always embarrassed Tony and Pepper. Now it's time for the two to strike back. Although the school newspaper isn't as embarrassing as Facebook, at least we have two new couples. TonyxPepper/RhodeyxWhitney pairings.


Who would have ever known that the word ''groupie'' would give Professor Klein a brilliant(idiotic) idea? That idea was for Pepper, Tony, Rhodey, Happy, _Gene_ and _Whitney_ to come up with two history projects that have to do with the electoral votes and how they were used to determine the President of the United States.

**(A/N: That stupid project was what I learned in my social studies class..or tried to, nothing my teacher said never made any sense, so cope with me here.)**

''We're supposed to do _what_ with _who?_'' Pepper exclaimed at hearing Professor Klein's proposistion. There was no way she was going to work with Whitney or Gene for any assignment. She still hated Whitney, and she didn't even want to start with Gene.

''This is an extra credit assignment that you all could benefit from seeing that your grades have lately been down.'' Everyone except Whitney and Happy knew the answer to why that was so.

''Can't we choose our own partners in this? Please?''

''No. For the past few weeks I have been studying you all and maybe this will help you come together to be friends, and boost your grade up a little.''

Pepper felt like she'd rather get a bad grade any day instead of working with her two enemies on a project that didn't even make any sense.  
The bell rang and school was dismissed. Everyone else went to meet up with thir friends-Professor Klein went to take a cup of coffee from the breakroom- and the group of six didn't say anything. Mostly because there was nothing else to say.

''So...my place for studying?'' Tony interrupted the unbearable silence, only to meet two more minutes of it.

''I doubt that. How about my place? We have a swimming pool!'' Whitney said, and immediately the boys began to dream about what she would look like if she was wearing a bikini. Pepper didn't say anything.

''S-sure no problem. What time?'' Rhodey stuttered. Of course he would be into going. And Tony?

''Sure, why not.'' Yes. He was brainwashed too by the Bikini Queen. The other boys agreed and everyone looked at Pepper who was putting her books away.

''What. Why are you all staring at me.''** (There's a reason why I didn't put an ? there so don't point it out.)**

''Are you coming with us or will you come later?'' Tony said. By the scowl on Whitney's face Pepper knew she was feeling the same thing she was. _'I do not want to be anywhere near Whitney Stane.'_ and for Whitney_, 'I do not want to be anywhere near Pepper Potts'_ but she was also thinking, _'If Pepper doesn't come, I'll have Tony all to myself, or I can at least get a shot at him'._

''I'm not feeling well. Maybe later...'' _Or probably never_.

''We all have to work on this project, Pepper.'' Rhodey said.

''And I have a huge headache right now, but the project won't help will it?'' Pepper's scowl matched the one on Whitney's face now. ''I'll see you later.''

''Want me to come with you?'' Tony whispered as she walked by. Pepper relaxed a bit and was glad Tony at least cared about her. Even if she didn't really have a headache.

''No thanks.'' She whispered back, and exited the Academy. She'd work on the project another time, or when Whitney wasn't around. Everyone knows you can't work with a person who you hate, so why should Pepper bother? She had a temper that wouldn't work well in study groups anyways.

* * *

It had started to rain as soon as she was out of the Academy, and Pepper was drenched by the time she had gotten home. Now she actually had a headache. Just great.

She took some pills and retreated to her bedroom. Usually skimming through FBI files would make her feel much better, but she didn't feel like moving a muscle at the moment. A bright, red book caught Pepper's eye as a lightning flash lit up the room. It was her diary. Well, even though it was supposed to be a diary Pepper liked to call it her journal. She felt that the word diary was too girly.

Pepper hadn't written in her journal since she was fifteen. The last time she'd ever opened it was on the night of her fifteenth birthday.  
She opened it and turned to the 59th page.(She numbered them for easier memory of the pages).

Dear Journal, May 16th, 2009, 11:45p.m.  
_Man, today was a blast! Dad and I went to see Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical, again for the 15th time. I don't really care if I've seen it so many times, it's just that the thought of the word is just so funny and the characters are so loving. This time, I got backstage passes, courtesy of the greatest Dad in the world, to see the on-stage characters! They told me everything about the play, how they run things around the place, the costumes(I got to try a backup costume for Mary, and I make a good Mary Poppins!), it was just an awesome experience. I'd never gone backstage before. I love Broadway._

_We had a bite to eat at a very fancy restaurant, but I can't remember the name of it. Something related to France? Italy? I don't know. I sometimes forget things...the name will come to me one of these days..._

D_ad then took me shopping in which I got to buy whatever I wanted(which wasn't related to clothes). There was a detective store dowtown and I went and bought some cool detective gear. The store was for kids(boys) and some of the equipment didn't work the same as Dad's did. I bought a gun, which looked completely real, only to find out it was filled with paint balls and that's the only thing you could fire. What a ripoff! I'm going to march down to that store tomorrow and get my money back! I don't even care if there's no refunds, this is The Big Apple, and people don't just throw their money all over the place just to get some cheap kid's toy. NO, I don't care if it's too dangerous!_

_I saw the movie, Paranormal Activity(i thought it was activities), and let me just tell you, I enjoyed it. Well, only the ending. I kept my face buried in my popcorn the entire time. Somehow Dad thought it as fascinating and didn't even notice my big wide eyes that only pop out when I'm afraid of something. That was the only flaw of my day._

_We went back to the FBI building and everyone there threw me a big party. I was so occupied of thinking of the freaky screams I heard in the Paranormal movie that I didn't realize where we were going and ruin the surprise. I am bound to be a party pooper since I realize things too quickly. There was this huge cake that had a perfect picture of me on it, with mom and dad when I was a little girl, and we were standing in front of our new house here in New York and we had big old happy smiles on our faces. I have to say I cried a bit, it's not my fault, I always try to be strong but whenever I see or think of my mom, my tear ducts always let out unnecessary water. I enjoyed the cake and got a huge chunk of it to bring home. My gifts were all FBI related,_ except one. _Bessie, you remember her she's an officer in one of the main buildings, and one of my many closest friends, she got me a _guitar _ for my birthday! That was awesome! She said she didn't mind spending her money on me, and she told me it cost almsot 300 dollars and told me to enjoy my gift. I definitely did, only to become disappointed that I couldn't enjoy it because I don't even know how to play the guitar. This guy name Stewart, Officer Edgar's son, said he'd come and show me the ropes tomorrow at my house. I said I'd rather go to the park(I feel like staying out of the house this week, not indoors like an old coop), and he agreed. I can't wait for tomorrow! _

_Wow, have I been writing this much since I started? Guess I write a lot more than I talk ^-^._

_Dad's yelling at me to turn off my light. I don't see why I have to sleep and he gets to stay up working on those files. I can just help him with it; I already know how to hack into his password on his computer. Can you believe his password is,_ 'I have the World's Greatest Daughter, 25'? _How lame! Someone in the building he works in could easily figure it out if he had some clues._

_There he goes yelling at me again. If this wasn't a Sunday, I would totally stay awake, and he would let me. But apparently Monday mornings are important to everyone these days. _

_I have to work with Rhodey again on this stupid project Miss Brown is making us do. If I had a gun that could shoot lasers, she would be the first target on my list, no doubt about it. . I know Rhodey doesn't like me, and it's plain obvious he finds me annoying, but I can't help being annoying. It's who I am. The only friend I have closest to my age is Stewart, and he's like, what, 16? I'm 15, and I need friends who have adventures, friends who aren't afraid of everything. Unless I can find a girl who is like that, who could be my friend, I don't want any girl friends._

_I saw Whitney Stane on tv today. Her dad is opening a new business of his somewhere near my dad's office. Probably about weapons no doubt. Whitney Stane said,_ ''I am so glad to be here with my father as we open his new building. We need all the weapons we can afford to help stop the war in Iraq. And we hope generous benefactors will help make that happen. All you have to do is provide money for our company, and if you are already doing that, try opening your pockets a bit more. Remember, if we keep losing soldiers, they'll all never come home.'' _ Seriously who does she think she is? The President? Either her father is losing money, or they're so greedy that they want other people's money, and I bet that it won't go at all to their little company. If I ever saw Whitney Stane's face in my neighborhood I'd probably throw a rock at her head. She's so fake, acting like a beautiful princess when she's actually a fake, complete loser. Most rich kids are snobby, and she's definitely one who'd make the list. Though Tony Stark doesn't flaunt around his money(I bet Whitney's going to run out of money by the end of the year)..(man I bet things too much!) and he actually uses his money to do powerful stuff, invent stuff that actually helps people instead of killing them. *Sighs* He's always wearing my favorite color, red! If I ever meet him, we'd be perfect for each other, just as long as he ignored my constant talking._

_There's Dad again. I'd better close this before I run out of pages and he comes in to give me some lecture._

_Night Journal(12:29a.m.) I really gotta watch the time more ._  
_P.S.- Do you know what the heck a celebutont is? They've been calling a lot of celebs that these days and I'm pretty sure whatever it means it describes Whitney Stane._

_With Love, Pepper._

Pepper smiled as she finished reading. That was an exciting day that she'd always remembered. It seemed like the best birthday she'd ever had, seeing that this year her father was too busy to go anywhere with her, and she didn't get a party until two days later. So much for Sweet 16.  
She'd hated Whitney Stane from the start when she saw her on tv leaning on Tony's arm as they made their way into some charity event or a party for the rich and famous. She'd always made sure to flirt around him whenever there were fangirls around just to show that he was hers. Or so she thought.

Pepper had noticed Tony's increasing attention towards her, but she'd always thought that it was because he wanted to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. That was typical for her, since she's been watched closely ever since she was a little child to make sure she didn't get into trouble. But now, Pepper thought of it as maybe...maybe something different. Whatever it was, she hoped that it would come to her as an excellent surprise.

That surprise wasn't excellent, and she jumped with a start when she heard a deep, male voice say, ''Watcha got there?''

Pepper spun around in her chair to see Tony grinning at her, happy to scare her out of her thoughts.

''What are you doing here? How did you even get in? I thought you were with Whitney and the others.'' Pepper's heart was beating hard in her chest, and she felt it all throughout her body too.

''Well, we were going to hang out by the pool and study when it started to rain, and Whitney's pool was outdoors so we had to move indoors.'' _Didn't celebrities like Whitney usually have two pools? One outdoors one in? Not smart..._

''It had gotten seriously boring, and everyone started to fall asleep. I said I needed to go to the bathroom, and-''

''Let me guess. Went out the window instead?''

''Jumped, actually. Slid down the roof and jumped down into the street. Nearly got run over by a car though...'' Pepper looked at him like he was crazy. Which he was in fact since nobody she knew would try something as ridiculous as that. Hmm. Maybe Pepper should keep a closer eye on him.

''I came to check up on you since you said you had a headache.''

Pepper smiled. ''I said you didn't have to come. How did you get in anyways?'' Pepper was sure she'd locked the door before she came upstairs.

''Your dad let me in. Didn't you know he was downstairs?'' Tony said. Pepper was so caught up in reading she didn't hear any door open or close.

''Thanks for coming though.'' Pepper said, switching subjects. ''I feel a lot better.''

''Well, since you do, tell me what you were smiling about a few seconds before I came in.'' Tony pulled up a chair and sat down facing Pepper, who was blushing now.

''Oh it was nothing...just a journal entry.''

''May I see it?''

''Of course not! Journals are for owner's eyes only. No strangers allowed.''

''I'm not a stranger. We've known each for about three months now.'' Pepper didn't think he'd keep track of how many months it had been since they'd met. She thought that was the girl's job, you know, if they just loved keeping track of relationships.

''I guess that's true. But I have some stuff that I wouldn't want you to read.''

''Has anyone else read it?''

''Nope.''

''Okay, then tell me a little of what's in it. Just give me a few clues.''''Well, it's mostly about my life so far, I've written in it everyday if I could. My last entry was about my fifteenth birthday.''

''And not about your sixteenth?''

''I never really had a party. Everyone was too busy.''

''Oh. Tell me about your birthday.'' Tony seemed really interested in her birthday, and Pepper didn't feel like telling him all about it when she just had a book that had the details, so she gave him her journal. ''Read only up to the I can't wait for tomorrow part.'' She instructed, and left him to read. She thought he'd skim through it, but he read every single sentence.

It had been about six minutes or so, and that was the amount it had taken for Pepper to read up to the 'I can't wait for tomorrow part' and she started to get suspicious. He was reading past that part, of all the other things she'd written for her eyes only.

''Tony! Give it back you're not supposed to read those!'' Tony teased her by running out of the room and down the stairs. He wasn't going to give her journal back yet.

And she wasn't to give up yet.

He ran outside, the rain had stopped falling and the sky was blue, just like before, and he ran down the street, towards the park. Pepper didn't tell her Dad where she was going, just ran out after Tony, who was already down the block. And she had thought _she_ was a fast runner.

By the time he'd reached the park, he had finished the book and set it down beside him with a chuckle. Pepper caught up to him, panting, and whisked her book into her bag. She punched Tony.

''Don't ever do that again!'' She said, and he started to laugh.

''So you were just jealous all this time?''_ No Pepper was just pretending to hate Whitney. Duh!_

''Well I wouldn't say jealous...''

''Pepper.''

''Okay, okay I was kinda jealous... but I really can't stand her! She's like a poison dart that hits you in the back and just sinks into your body releasing the poison that eventually makes you die.''

''You're overexaggerating, Pepper. She's not like a poison dart in any way.''

''She's not a dart but she definitely carries the poison. The whole package actually...''

''What?''

''Nothing.''

''Pepper you know Whitney and I will always and only be friends. She just acts like that because that's the way the public wants her to act. The Paparazzi, the Magazine people, they always want a big scoop as a story, and they want people to act like she does just for wanted attention and something to give to their readers.''

''I don't think so. I think she really likes you. If I'm not around she's all happy and bubbly, but if I'm around it's like she's a storm cloud waiting to electrocute me.''

''Even if it was like that I would still want to be with one person.''

''Really? Who?'' Pepper already knew the answer, and she was feeling all girly and bubbly inside again.

''Roberta.''

''What?''

Tony laughed. ''She has that certain sparkle in her eye you know?''

Now Pepper wondered if Tony had lost his mind. _Roberta_? She had no spark left in her! No offense to Rhodey, but it wasn't really an offense since she was just thinking these things, but seriously? She was wayy too old for Tony!

''Kidding. Lighten up.'' Tony moved closer to her and she squinted her eyes at him. Not at his moving but at that stupid joke. She should have thought better.

''You're the only girl I want, and whatever I do, I want you to be by my side.'' Pepper expected a wedding ring to pop out any minute now, because that sentence would usually mean, ''Would you marry me?''

''Do you want to be by my side Pepper?'' Pepper decided to play his game against him.

''No.'' She noted the priceless look on his face. ''I'd rather spend my time with Gene, if you don't mind.''

Now Tony would have thought she was joking if she'd said Obadiah Stane or Happy Hogan, or even Rhodey, but he knew she and Gene had had a thing in the past and Pepper always changes her mind at a random moment. What if what she said was true?

Pepper laughed. ''Kidding. Of course I'd rather be with you. You're all I live for.''

''All? Hmm...maybe you should have put that in your journal. And you could have joined the Tony Stark FanClub too.'' He wasn't joking. There actually was a fanclub and blog dedicated to him, consisting of science and math geeks and girls who thought they had a chance at dating a handsome, rich scientist. Scratch handsome. They considered him to be sexy.

''Shut up.''But Pepper hugged him. She was still waiting for that something special, that one kiss to make things official, but it never came.

''Alright, let's go back to Whitney's house. We were in the middle of working. Would you like to join us?'' Tony held out her hand, and Pepper let out a sigh of disappointment as she took it and they headed towards the big mansion where Whitney lived.

The butler let them in, where they discovered everyone still alseep since Tony had left. No one had noticed him gone.

Pepper saw a sight that would make her laugh. She showed Tony and he stifled one as well.

Rhodey was laying down on the sofa asleep, with his arm around Whitney and holding her close. She was snuggled in his chest with a content smile on her face.

Pepper thought this to be a great Christmas card, or at least, a bit of revenge for taking pictures of her and Tony sleeping. She whipped out her cellphone and took at least ten pictures, and showed them to Tony. They agreed to put this in the school newspaper, where everyone could see it. Rhodey had put the pictures of them on Tony's facebook page, which he visited once only, and that was when he'd first signed up. A whole bunch of comments flooded in from people asking, _''Who is that redhead? Why is she with Tony? She's not famous!'_ and_ 'Tony's cheated on all of us with a spiky haired girl!_' also, _Are they going out? Are they making out?'_ featuring mostly, _'Ugh! That's so not fair! We would have been perfect together! She's not even good enough for any celebrity to date! You can tell by her looks that she's probably some crazy freak at his school or something_.' Other comments, after seeing those put up by previous Stark fans were a combination of O_Os O_os and 0-0s. Everyone was surprised at these pictures, but luckily the media didn't get hold of on the other hand was fuming at the time and replied to all of those who said rude things about her. The school newspaper would get a boost in readers once they saw this.

Gene was asleep against the window and Happy was in the kitchen, face buried in ice cream. The butlers in the place didn't even both to clean up that mess, they just went about their business attending to things in the house.

''This has been an interesting day, wouldn't you say so Miss Potts?'' Tony said as they hung out by the pool.

''Most definitely Mr. Stark. Tomorrow will be an even more interesting day indeed.'' Pepper giggled.

''You know what would make this day even more interesting?'' Tony wiggled his eyebrows.

''I think I do Mr. Stark.''

Revenge is most definitely sweet, but kisses are most definitely sweeter. :)

* * *

The next day Rhodey didn't see neither Pepper nor Tony at school, and he was sure he'd seen Tony leave the house that morning. Rather early too.

Something strange was happening at the Academy. Normally people wouldn't bother to read the school newspaper, but today, everyone was reading it. Students, teachers, even secretaries. All into today's story. What was it exactly?

Whitney Stane and James Rhodes: Matchmade in Heaven

As soon as Rhodey had seen the heading he knew Pepper and Tony were behind it. Underneath the heading was a picture of him and Whitney sleeping together back at her house. He didn't read the story(there was a whole page full of it), instead he searched the whole school for Tony and Pepper, who he'd bet gave him the idea.

''Rhodey's here I saw him enter the building!'' Pepper said excitedly. She pulled Tony next to her at the window. ''What do you think he's gonna do once he finds out what everyone's talking about?''

''If I'd known Rhodey, he would be screaming our names in 3...2...1...''

''PEPPER! TONY!'' Rhodey's vocie came from down the stairs.

''Come on let's hide!'' Pepper and Tony ran behind the bookshelves and crouched down, waiting for Rhodey to burst in through the door.  
A big entrance he'd made also, for Rhodey was so angry, and embarrassed, that he burst in through the library doors and scanned the place for the two culprits.

Pepper hadn't done a very good job in hiding herself, because from where Rhodey was standing he could see her bright, red hair from between two books five shelves down from him.

Pepper had just realized that too and silently cursed herself for being born with hair that could probably be seen two miles away.

''Tony, we have to go somewhere else!'' She hissed.

''Why? We're not caught yet, and this was a really good prank.'' Tony laughed. Why couldn't this boy notice the most obvious things around him?  
''Am I laughing?'' Rhodey asked in an unamused voice.

''No. But everyone else is. Which means it was really good. And who knows, Whitney might actually start dating you.''

Rhodey's face looked exactly like his father's when he wasn't kidding around or when he was very angry with something.

''It was my hair.'' Pepper said. ''He wouldn't have caught us if I didn't have cherry red hair!'' She pulled at the spiky hair she had.''Maybe I should dye it.''

''Why would you dye your hair over getting caught?'' Tony asked, finding it a stupid thing to do. ''Aren't you proud of it?''

''It's my obvious hair that's gotten me in so much trouble over the past few years, ever since I was little. I hardly got away with anything since someone would usually spot me at the crime scene.''

''I still think that's stupid. And besides you were the one who came up with this prank idea. Rhodey's just lucky we didn't put that picture on a billboard in the middle of the city.''

Pepper's face lit up like a Christmas tree, except without the decorations. ''Can you actually do that?''

''What?''Rhodey exclaimed. Newspapers were one thing to deal with. Time Square was another he didn't want to face.

''Yes. If it will make you feel better.''

Pepper shook her head. ''Another time. I think Rhodey's faced enough humiliation for today. And maybe tomorrow...and the next day...and the day after that...and the day after that...and the weeks after that...''

''Okay, I get it! It wasn't funny you guys. Whitney's probably too scared to come into school or something.''

''Rhodey! Rhodey are you in here?''

''Whitney?'' The three said loudly.

''There you are!'' Whitney was holding the newspaper in her hand and her face was as red as Pepper's when she chased Tony for her journal. ''What the hell is this? Are you trying to make me become undatable? I mean seriously! I have better things to do than to be married to you in heaven or-'' She was cut off by an unexpected move.

Rhodey kissed her.

Pepper whispered a silent 'Goal!' as if she were at a Spanish soccer game, Tony just stood there smirking as if his face was glued and stuck like that, and Rhoder personally didn't know what he was doing. He pulled back and expected a slap of some sort, but Whitney hugged him instead.

''How long have you liked me?'' Whitney asked, because she'd suspected Rhodey had had a crush on her for some time.

''Ever since you had came.'' Rhodey scratched the back of his nervously as Tony always did.

''Aww!'' Whitney gushed. ''Come on, let's go for a walk around the park. School doesn't start for another 45 minutes.''

In a way, Rhodey could have thanked Pepper and Tony for bringing them together. But he couldn't erase the taunting newspapers that the school had for another two weeks. That he'd never forgive them for.

''Did you by any chance see that coming?'' Tony asked Pepper.

''Not at all. But it's sweet isn't it?''

''Yeah. Want to go join them?''

''Um, how about we go somewhere else? They'd be a crowd.''

''Sounds good to me.''

* * *

**it took me like a WEEK to post this because my dad kept cutting my router off and therefore no wifi, but we sorted things out and this is finally published! hope you liked it!**


End file.
